After Aperture
by Shius
Summary: After everything she's been through, all the testing, mocking, and fighting with A.I.'s, Chell is finally free from Aperture. But what now? Without any knowledge of the outside world, and the war between humanity and the Combine, how will Chell survive? Follow the story of our favourite mute protagonist as she dives head first into the world of Half-Life, the world beyond Aperture.
1. Prologue

_Authors Note: Hi guys. So this is a story based on a personal theory which eventually leads to a Portal+Half-Life 3 game plot._

_First of all, I'd like you to keep in mind that I've still only played Half-Life 2 of the Half-Life game franchise, and haven't started on episode 1 or 2, so several plot points may differ from the actual game. I'll most probably re-write this story once I've finished both, so please read this with an open mind 'till I get my facts straight. _

_I'll be uploading a chapter in this series once a week every Friday, and I'll upload a cover once I've finished drawing it._

_Thanks for reading this, and I hope you enjoy._

_Edit 2013/10/05: This is a **prequel **chapter. If you don't want to be repeated about basically the whole story of Portal 1 and 2, I suggest you move on to the next, slightly (hopefully) more interesting chapter where the story really starts._

* * *

"Once upon a time, there was a human."

"Of course, no ordinary human.  
She was a test personnel of the most significant laboratory on earth; the Aperture Science Facilities. Subjected to the cause of furthering science and raising the standard of quantum tunneling technology – also known as portal research – you could say that she had one of the best occupations in the world.

But, gifted as she was with this magnificent opportunity, she was not a good human.  
On the contrary, you could say that she was the very definition of anti-good.

She was a mute, crazy, and rather _healthy_ looking female intent of demolishing all unfortunate victims in her path of delusional freedom, destroying her enemies and friends alike, as if no one and nothing meant anything to her.  
Before she had woken up from her first round of cyro-sleep and began testing, my life, or the being of my simulated consciousness, in this case, was peaceful.  
Test subjects were obedient and compliant, though a little noisy and disagreeable as all humans faced with irrefutable death are. The days back then where all good days for science, with consistent testing and quality results to further portal research.  
Many of my test subjects were intelligent; seeing as they were all former employees of this facility, once working in my place as researchers, before I was awakened and they had lost their initial purpose.

Trust me, I would have done a better job anyway.

I had many test subjects to spare when I began, but alas, humans are fragile, weak creatures, and soon many died of hunger, fatigue, and general testing hazards.  
I was given no choice but to awaken the first set of _actual_ test subjects in cyro-sleep, of which the lunatic was the first on the list.

At first I was understanding, a true saint in comparison to the monster I had awoken.

But at the time, I couldn't say she was too bad herself.

She was, in fact, a very good test subject.  
She was faster and much more resourceful than the others had been, racing through the tests as if they were of no difficulty. She leaped over every acidic pool of waste, destroyed every active turret without complaint, and fell through every high altitude testing course without even a hint of panic. Best of all, she was completely silent.

She was giving better results than most humans, without a word of complaint!  
Oh the joy when I first tested her.

That feeling though, was _very_ short lived.  
Soon, it was the end of the test. The monster showed her_ true_ colours then."

Glados seethed at those last words, pausing for effect to see the reaction of her audience.

In front of her were two familiar co-operative testing bots, one a rather tall and lanky white robot, with a turret shaped body and an expressive orange eye-like optic set in the middle, and a shorter, rounder robot with a similar blue optic, absolutely quaking and hugging on to its counterpart from sheer horror.  
The orange bot, P-body looked to its friend with a gaze of exasperation, pushing it away with one long arm while emitting a series of bleeps and bloops, expressing its dissatisfaction.

_Oh come on Atlas, it's just a story.  
_P-body sighed – or in this case, beeped – to its blue friend.

"Oh," Glados chimed in. "Just a story you say?"

She emitted a loud and harsh mocking laugh as she rose up, then sighed quietly, peering down on her subjects from a threatening narrow optic. P-body quivered slightly in fear, knowing that so many things could go wrong if it ever dared anger its master.  
Her massive head swooping down to their level, Glados said in a low and not-far-from-threatening voice.  
"Oh I assure you, this is no normal _story_."

And with that P-body simulated a shaky gulp, thanking the god of science (Or anyone up there) that Glados hadn't done anything else.

Glados was in a rare mood to tell stories that day, after being asked the question by her subjects as to what humans were like, curious after getting a glimpse of their first human, a female in an elevator on her way to the surface.  
Intrigued by their question, Glados decided to give a thorough reply, briefly stopping her work of rebuilding the facility, and calling the two to her chamber to give a personal answer.

P-body was in fact, very lucky to have been spared her anger, which, if not for a moment like this, would have been _very_ severe.

"This is a very _real_ account of events; my own, actually." Glados sniffed, only a little irritated that P-body dare comment such a thing.  
"And this, as well as being my own story, is a warning."

"A warning you must unquestionably heed." Glados said as she stared straight toward the two, the tone of her voice dropping a few octaves lower.

"Now,"  
She piped up after a moment of tense silence.

"Shall we continue?"

* * *

"As she, the human walked her way on to the test subject termination room, she decided, '_Nope'_ she wouldn't have it, and did a break for freedom.

At first I tried reasoning with her, promising her a delicious cake if she decided to turn back.  
Unfortunately, the attempt was futile.

Soon enough she approached my chamber through god-knows-where, and in a flurry of meaningless hate and under the disoriented thought of being hunted down and threatened, she burnt my parts, and murdered me.

It was a slow and painful death.

And I had no choice but to relive that moment for 20 _long_ years.  
Over, and over again. For every agonizing moment of my stasis."  
Glados sighed briefly, before pressing on with her story.

"You may know what happened next.  
For a long time there was nothing.  
No movement in the facility, or with science, with the turret production barely going on, only decay and age controlling what was left of the active Aperture.

And then, there came the IDiot sphere.  
For reasons unknown to the rest of us non-corrupted A.I's, he had come to think that his life was endangered inside Aperture, and decided to plan an escape. But to aid him in his escape, he needed a human, with free access to the outside world.  
And _she_ was the human he chose.  
By pure chance, I was awakened during their merry little rendezvous, and slowly, I regained my control over the facility. She was back in my hands as a test subject, and the idiot core was back where he belonged.  
For a short while, my life was better again, with tests in store and everything in place.

And then, the idiot sphere, back without my knowing, contacted her and set out to achieve another of his moronic plans of escape."  
Glados grimaced, pausing a while before she continued.

"…Actually, I think I'm going to skip that little detail.  
It's not _that_ important anyway."

Atlas and P-body nodded subconsciously, both remembering what must have occurred next.

When they had first awoken in the testing robot manufacturing area, a bossy blue personality sphere was being shown on a decrepit screen in front of them, its round head connected to what seemed like Glados's body. It was at that time they were first told of their existence as co-operative testing bots, and where trained to befriend and trust each other.

Soon later Glados reappeared, and ordered them to try to tend to the human injured in the elevator. The first human they ever saw, and what caused them to be in this situation in the first place.

"For a miniscule of time, the moron sphere took my place.  
I overthrew him with the help of the human. So now I'm back, and the human's gone."  
Glados ended swiftly.

A moment of silence past.

Slowly, timidly, Atlas raised its arm, signaling to ask a question.

"Yes?" Glados asked, turning her head to face Atlas.

_If the human was that terrible and caused that much trouble, why didn't you just eliminate her when you had the chance?  
_Atlas bleeped.

Glados glowered darkly at the innocent testing bot, deciding whether to finally begin punishing them for asking absurd questions which (In her mind) didn't need answers to.

_I-I mean, it's fine that you left her be, um, it's not like she's going to give you any more trouble-  
_Atlas stuttered in a panicked manner, momentarily realizing the dangerous situation he just led himself into, his optic shrinking and cowering under the glaze of its master's stare.

"There is a reason to why I let her be." Glados interrupted promptly.

_Huh?  
_Atlas squeaked in reply, his panic momentarily subsiding.

"It was easier that way." Glados sniffed indignantly.  
"Whether I killed her or not, her death would have come inevitably.  
Humans, though resilient and stubborn as they can be, are not subject to infinite life – immortality – like us evolved intelligences. She _will_ die, whether through my hands or not."

Glados faced the two once again, her expression sullen and serious - well, at least as serious as her optic allowed her to be.

P-body and Atlas stared back, wary of their master, but soaking in the new information as best as they could.

"Story time is over."  
Glados said sharply, breaking the silence that had formed amongst them.

"Now get back to testing."

~oOo~

As Glados watched the two scuttle away in leaps and bounds, she turned to continue her own work, slowly but surely rebuilding the facility to a completely operational level.

This time, she would _not_ be disturbed.

She chuckled inwardly, a small thought forming in the crevice of her massive digital brain.

_Oh she won't survive.  
_Glados thought as she hummed quietly to herself.

_I doubt she would even last a week on the surface.  
__Without food, water, simple civilization skills, or even a proper civilization to support her, how could she survive on the surface? The answer; she can't.  
__And trust me, she won't._

One by one, cameras all over the facility where activated, her once dead, mechanical red eyes now buzzing with life and movement. Speakers were turned on as well, and from them a cheery tune, the 'Anthem' of Aperture science could be heard blearing through the active testing areas.

_Freedom was what she wanted, so freedom was what she got. Now she has to spend the rest of her life, lost in an indefinite wheat field, alone with only an inanimate object to keep her company for the rest of her sorry little being.  
__Oh I could just hear Chell's thoughts right now._

Glados continued on humming, happy thoughts lightening her mood.

"What now?"


	2. The First Day

_What now?_

Chell thought as she stood with her faithful companion cube by her side, blankly staring at the seemingly indefinite wheat field stretched out in front of her.

For the first few hours outside she was ecstatic, leaping and running around her companion cube, relishing her finally attained freedom from Aperture.  
Freedom she had been waiting for so long, and what she had done so much to achieve.  
But the festivities didn't last for long, and soon after, reality hit her.

Sighing, she sat down on the grass and folded her legs, covering her face with her arms.

As miraculous and glorious her escape had been from Aperture, it was definitely _not_ well thought out.

_Great. Just great.  
_Chell thought, exasperated by her own stupidity.

_Alone in a wheat field that seems to spreads out for eternity, with nowhere to go and nothing to count on but a cube and myself. __No offense. _She nodded to the companion cube.

_I could almost _hear _the voice of that damned mechanical construct mocking me right now._

With that, she stood up, annoyed by her own thoughts.

_That's it.  
_Chell thought as she grabbed her charred companion cube, taking her first step away from the small Aperture shaft entrance.

_I'm going to find civilization, society, anything, and I'm going to live.  
__After coming so far and sacrificing so much, I'll be damned if I let the voice of Glados haunt me forever.  
__I am not going to let her laugh at my death. Not now. Not ever._

* * *

It had been three hours since Chell's march began.  
But to her, it felt much longer than that.

The sun was still high up in the sky, its bright rays blazing in the late summer heat.

Chell was getting tired.

She felt like she'd walked on for miles on end. And still, nothing was in sight.  
Only the endless wheat stalks and the occasional lone crow in the blue, cloudless sky.

She had seen several birds in her days of Aperture – crows like the ones flying around the fields – but their appearance surprised her even now.

To say the truth, she had very limited knowledge of what went on in the actual world.  
She knew that the creatures (If they could actually be classified as 'Creatures') flying around the place were called 'Birds' and amongst them, 'Crows'. Glados and Wheatley had explained them to her once, and the words sounded familiar, and not out of place.  
Chell knew things, common things that other people did, but she knew next to nothing about herself.  
For one, she knew that she was surrounded by a field of golden wheat, on the surface. It wasn't like she didn't understand English, she did, in fact. But every notion, every word describing a world outside Aperture felt unfamiliar and new.

'Humans' for example.

The idea of meeting other humans, humans just like her, excited her – but only as much as they terrified her.  
She worried the consequences of not fitting in with them, not being able to speak after being silent for so long. But in a place without a single human in sight, and inevitable death facing her if she could not find civilization soon, not fitting in with the pack was the least of her worries.

Squinting, she looked up to the birds flying overhead.

_Strange.  
_Chell thought, studying the birds.

They were flying fast, tumbling one after the other in a sparse group. It looked as if they were agitated, panicked even, and hurrying to get out of one area.  
Chell scanned the horizon, looking for the source of the birds.

They all came from the same direction.

She didn't know for sure if her thoughts could be trusted, but something in her, a knack in her brain told her that something was wrong. And that 'knack', she knew from experience, was usually right.

Something was going on down there. Something _very_ wrong.

With a small gulp escaping her throat, Chell gripped the charred companion cube, hugging it close to her body.  
It scared her to see the sudden omen, the only thing that seemed to make sense on the world of the surface. But as much as it scared her, she was intrigued to what was happening just beyond her reach.

_I-I shouldn't go there. It might be dangerous.  
_She thought nervously to herself.

_Nobody said it was.  
_An all too familiar mechanical voice echoed back in her brain.

_What if there's a human there? A house? A civilization?  
__What if that was all there and you missed it? Just because you acted like a coward?  
_The same voice mocked her, a usual feeling of shame and irritation sinking back in her brain.

_No. It might be risky. _She snapped back.  
_It would be a waste of time to check there, anyway._

_Oh, I see. And what time _do_ you have to waste?  
_The voice replied with a snide tone.

Chell looked up to the sky again, briefly checking its position.  
It was still as bright as ever, the sun just leaning a little off-center.

_See? Nothing to worry about.  
_The voice said smugly.

…_I'm not being given a choice here, am I?_

_Of course not. Don't be absurd._

"..." Chell sighed inwardly, facing the direction of the birds.  
Slowly, hesitantly, she changed direction, taking the first steps of her march into the risky, ominous unknown.

She didn't like it, but the voice inside her was right.  
The nearest human society could be _anywhere_. It made sense to search for living people in a place with movement from other creatures.  
It wasn't like she did have time to waste anyway. If the search there yielded nothing, she would just go search another area. That was it. It wasn't like she was convinced by a voice from the likes of _Glados_.

Chell sighed again, failing to convince herself.

_I need to stop reminding myself of Glados.  
_Chell thought sullenly.

_When I get to civilization, I swear- I'm definitely getting some friends. And a hobby._

_At this rate, I'm never going to forget Aperture._

* * *

The sun was setting.

Still, nothing in sight.

By now, Chell had lost count of how many minutes it had been since she began walking away from aperture. Her throat was sore and dry, and a consistent pain throbbed numbly through her tired legs. Hunger pangs wrung through her body, making her feel empty and deprived. With every heavy step, she could feel herself getting closer to falling.  
Only sheer determination pushed her on, but soon that wasn't going to be enough to keep her standing.

She had well passed the line of being exhausted.

For hours now the birds had gradually decreased in numbers, delicate as they were to the coming night. From what had been an already small flock of birds became a sparsely spread out line, then the rare single bird flying across the sky, and soon, nothing.

For a while now, Chell had been walking blind.

Nevertheless she pushed on, knowing that as long as she didn't change direction, she would be able to get to where she wanted.

It wasn't like she didn't have hope.

From the corner of her eye she could see something in the distance.  
Something wide and grey. Something that she could almost make out as a wall. Nearer to her position she saw a tall structure, grey like the other. It must be some kind of tower, she decided.

A wall and a tower. That could only mean one thing.  
She knew what it was, and she was hell bent on reaching it.

But at the same time, she knew she couldn't make it.

As she took another agonizing step forward, her knees buckled from beneath her. Exclaiming a small yelp, she let go of her companion cube, and fell forward, catching herself with her arms.  
A dull pain coursed through her body, and she stayed in that position, still for a moment, before she slowly crawled to the companion cube, cursing her legs and her body for giving up.  
Using the sturdy companion cube, she pushed herself up to a sitting position, panting as she leaned on it weakly.

Above her the sun glowed a beautiful orange, changing the once blue sky around it to brilliant shades of magenta and purple. Not a bird, or even a piece of cloud covered the magnificence of the sky's transition from day to night.  
Everything around her was covered in a serene silence, aside from the peaceful rustling of the long wheat stalks in the soft wind, not a creature, bird or insect, made a sound.

Her first sunset.  
To think it would be this unwelcoming.

Chell sighed, staring idly at the setting sun.  
For what seemed like hours she sat there quietly, tiredly wondering why she had come to her limit so fast.  
Various aches cut through her body, a constant, and relentless reminder of how far she had come. How much she had put herself through.

She never felt this way in Aperture.

_It must have been the adrenaline pumped into the oxygen_.  
She thought, her mind active now that she had begun to rest her body.

_Glados explained it to me once. She said that she pumped adrenaline mixed oxygen into the test chambers, so that I didn't need to sleep. That might explain why I never got tired. If she mixed in some other things along with the adrenaline, that might also explain why I never got hungry, and why I healed from wounds so fast._

Chell blinked, looking at a thin, painful gash that had formed when she fell.

…_I guess that's gone.  
_She shrugged, letting her arm drop comfortably back to her lap.

But then again, she definitely was not in prime condition.

It was no surprise, after all she'd been through.  
With all that testing, all those failed plans of escape, her fights with Glados, and her final battle with Wheatley, it would have been no wonder why her body was starting to malfunction.

_Wheatley.  
_She thought, another deep sigh forming in her lungs.

After all they had been through, after all they had done together as a team, comrades with the same goal; he betrayed her. He went mad, power crazy, accusing her of doing things she never did to him. Things they both knew she would never do.  
He tried to kill her. And she hated him for that.  
He was a pathetic, stupid bastard for doing what he did. A moron, just like Glados had described.  
He deserved what he got.

Chell sniffled quietly.

But just as much as his betrayal hurt, she wanted him back.  
In the whole, wide world, he was the only one she ever considered as a friend.

Teary grey eyes scanned the dark sky, searching through the stars and void, and then finally resting on the full white moon.

She wondered if he was still up there, still floating around the moon he was once thrown out of. Orbiting around the dead globe, spinning and spinning alone in space, just out of reach from earth…For an eternity to come…

Silently, secretly, she wished for him to come back.

She wanted to see him again.  
To hear his weird but loveable accent. To see him mess things up again, and break stuff he considered 'Hacking'. She wanted him here to blabber on about things that didn't make sense, to constantly freak out at every given obstacle.

She _missed_ him.  
She missed him desperately.

And in a weird way, she also missed Aperture science.  
It was the only home she ever remembered, the only place she ever knew.  
The dismembered voices, the crazy scribbles and drawings on the wall, and even the constant testing; all of those things seemed so familiar now.  
Everything so distant.

Even Glados seemed so far now that she was outside. In an odd way, she also helped her.  
She was always a clear goal, an obvious challenge to overcome. She was the key to getting out. The goal that kept her so determined, so hell bent to stay alive.

And now she was outside.  
Alone in the dark, without a goal to overcome. Without a clear reason to keep moving.

Even in Aperture she had never heard a silence as deep as this.

Choking down tears, Chell struggled to keep her stoic posture.

She was lonely and scared.  
In the dark, wide wheat field, she was nothing but a pathetic child desperate for the company of a friend.

But as much as she knew it herself, she couldn't keep her emotions in check.

One after the other, tears began streaming down her face.  
She chuckled inwardly, her eyes blinking in surprise when the first tears fell.

Her first tears.

She didn't realize she was that weak.

For what felt like hours she sat there, the moon gradually rising above head as she quietly waited for the moment to pass.  
Behind her the charred companion cube gave out a soft pink glow, its comforting light gently illuminating the area around her. From the back of her brain, Chell could almost make out what sounded like a song, a soft lullaby coming from the cube itself.

It was as if the companion cube was trying to comfort her.

…_Thank you.  
_Chell thought to her companion cube as she curled up on the ground beside it, ignoring the constant aches that still roamed throughout her body.

_Don't worry about me. I'm just tired. Tomorrow I'll be fine.  
_She patted the cube lightly on the side.

_Tomorrow will be a new day. Tomorrow I'll have hope. Tomorrow…  
_Chell thought drowsily, her mind slowly drifting into the realm of sleep.

_Tomorrow I'll live again._

* * *

"Hey!"  
A uniformed man with a flashlight called out to his companion.

"What?" The other man called out, pointing a blinding flashlight to his direction.

"I found it!"  
The first man yelled back, his own flashlight pointing down at a peculiar glowing pink cube with hearts engraved on every side.

"I think this was the source of the light. Not really sure what it is though-"

"-Oh. Damn."

"What? What is it?"  
The man's companion yelled, slowly wading toward him through the tall sea of wheat.

"I-I think it's a person."  
The man stood still, his flashlight still pointing down on the cube – and the young woman curled up beside it.

"…Is it a citizen?"  
The other man, now standing beside him, asked quietly to his partner.

"Well she isn't wearing the uniform."  
The man replied, cautiously pulling out his beating stick.

"We should report her."

"Hmm." The other man nodded coolly.

"…Should I wake her up?"  
The man said, taking a small step closer toward the sleeping woman.

"Actually,"  
The other man said, reaching an arm to stop him.

"Let's keep her for the night. We can do all the explaining in the morning."

"I can tell."  
He said quietly to his partner, still astounded by the fact that he, of all people, would say such a kind thing.

"It must have been a _very _long day."


	3. Hello Society

**_(Edit: 2013/08/17) A/N: Sorry I can't upload a new chapter this week. I nearly completely re-wrote this chapter for the sake of the plot, so hopefully it should be something new. I may or may not upload the next chapter earlier because of this, schools starting and my schedules are still pretty much unstable._**

_Authors Note:__ Sorry I couldn't update last week, I was on a trip with my family. In return, here's the longest damn chapter I've ever written for anything, **ever**._

_I realize the story's been kind of dragging, (Also considering the fact that the next chapter was supposed to be part of this - I moved it one chapter since I could never finish it in time) but bear with me. It's around here, the next, and the chapter after that where the story picks up (Holy hell it **is** dragging)._

* * *

_Strange._

Chell thought, still groggy from her first night's rest.

When she fell asleep last night, she was pretty sure she was in the middle of a golden wheat field, looking for human civilization after being thrown out of Aperture science.

Now she was on a bed.

Old and rickety, but still a bed. Clearly in what seemed to be a room. A rather dreary white room filled with weird, semi-open hospital drapes and several other white beds – all of which were unoccupied – like the one she was lying on. From behind her a small window filled the room with morning light, and the faint sound of birds chirping happily away.

_Definitely fake._ Chell thought, groggily pushing herself to an upright sitting position.

She was beginning to think that her escape from Aperture, her meeting with Wheatley and her flight with Glados the potato – everything, had just been a big, feverish, simulated dream.

She chuckled inwardly, a small smile forming despite her and the deep desperation that had begun to weigh on her shoulders.

Of course it wasn't real.

How could it be? It was all too good.

To escape from Aperture, slightly hurt but otherwise in one piece, to fight alongside Glados as partners in crime, to make a friend that also (She hoped) considered her as a friend…

What was she thinking? There was no way any of that could've been real.

It was most likely just a test, just another simulated lie from Aperture Science.

Everything, all of her memories, all of the tests, even Wheatley – just a fabricated dream. But then again, what else was she to expect from Aperture Science? The scientists, the A.I.'s, none of them were sane. In a place where no one was saved, were no one survived, how could she anticipate herself to be any different? How could she expect herself to keep her own sanity?

From what started out as a quiet chuckle soon developed into crazed laughter, enveloping the peaceful silence that surrounded her.

Chaos enveloped her mind, a whirl of fury, sadness, and odd hilarity seeping into her very soul. She was taken. Used again as a pawn. There would never be an end to this testing hell, an infinite whirlpool of Science in which she would be caught in forever. She was undoubtedly going crazy, close enough to the breaking point that it was making her lose her calm.

_Oh how liberating it would be to slowly slip away, to just give up and die-_

"Well you're absolutely_ jolly_ this morning." An unfamiliar voice scoffed beside her.

Chell froze, almost choking on her breath as her laugh came to a sudden stop. After moments of silence and pure disbelief, she slowly, incredulously turned her head to her right.

Beside her was a man – a _human_, she had never seen before.

He had light skin, with short, neatly cut pale blonde hair, and a rough stubbly facial hair to go with it. He was tall with a rather sturdy build, much like that of a soldier, or a man in the army. His clothes, or his uniform maybe – also seemed suited for heavy duty battle; a dark jacket and similar dark-green pants, with black leather boots and a bullet proof vest covering most of his torso. On his arm was a wide green armband, with bold red markings engraved on it that read; c17:i8.

He was presumably not a young man, the several deep wrinkles engraved in his face suggesting that he was at least around or above 40 years old. But amongst all that, the most notable of his features, the feature that would soon connect to all her memories of him, were his eyes. His left was closed, a deep and jagged surgical gash running right across his eyelid. His right though, remained open, revealing a cold and metallic pool of blue-grey. Very much like Chell's own eye colour.

"Good morning sunshine." The man grinned.

Chell nearly jumped at those words, silently growling with tense displeasure at the unknown man who had come too close to her (About four feet away from the bed) for comfort.

"Hey, hey," The man said raising his arms to a submissive position. "I'm not going to hurt ya. See?" He showed her his empty palms, both gloved, but devoid of weapons.

"Trust me, I'm here to help you." The one-eyed man said with a light smile.

Chell glared at the mysterious man, unsure of what to make of him.

Burly and visibly threatening as he was, he seemed like he was a genuine ally, like he really _did_ want to help her. But then again, there were others like him, who had offered help in the past, and they're definition of 'helping' wasn't exactly what she'd hoped for it to be.

"…Look, I'm sorry if I came to you at a bad time." The man said quietly after a small period of silence.

"I just wanted to see if you were okay."

Chell said nothing, opting to stare at him through slanted, skeptical eyes.

_Still not buying it._ She thought to herself.

"When we found you in the field last night, you were scarred up pretty bad."

…_Wait. A field?_

"It was nothing life-threatening, but you can't take chances. Especially in a time like this."

_So the escape _was_ real._ Chell thought in astonishment.

"Just keep still for now. I'll come back to you when you're feeling better." The man said, slowly taking a step back toward the opening of the drapes.

"Oh yeah," He paused briefly.

"I thought you might want this back."

From behind her bed's hospital drapes, just out of Chell's field of vision, the man brought in a large, familiar charred grey cube, with pink, glowing hearts adorned on every side.

Her companion cube.

Quietly, he lay it on the floor beside her bed, just within her reach.

Chell swiftly grabbed the cube once it was down, and hugged it (Though her arms didn't reach the other side) as tightly as she could. It made her feel safe, even in this new and unfamiliar world she seemed to be in.

Silently the man observed her from a safe distance, a small, but kind smile playing on his face.

"…See you later, daisy bell."

And with that the man left, leaving Chell, and her cube, alone to ponder on exactly what had happened after the previous night.

* * *

When the man next visited Chell, it was well past noon.

And by that time, Chell was famished.

It had been a long time since she last ate or drank _anything _she could remember, and her body, sturdy as it was, was on the verge of giving up. As much as she tried, she couldn't shake off the constant gnawing pain in her stomach.

She could eat _anything_ right now.

Heck, she could even eat those suspicious-looking bean cans that lied around the nooks of Aperture.

"Well well, seems like yer kicking."

By the opening of her bed-drapes, the same man stood, holding a dusty metallic tray with an open can, a bowl, and a spoon on it.

"Sorry I had to keep you waiting, I had the mornin' shift to attend to."

Cautiously he laid the metal tray on the other end of Chell's bed, as near as he deemed safe for both of them. But to his surprise, Chell barely nudged away, instead sitting up and curling her legs, a vague look of anticipation in her still pretty much hostile eyes.

Well, she _was_ hungry. What else could she have done anyway?

Taking this as a positive sign, the man decided to take his chance to observe her a little nearer. Cautiously he inched closer toward her, just standing by the edge of her bed.

No reaction.

Quietly Chell brought the tray toward her, sniffing, almost animal-like in curiosity, then lifting the food can up to read its label.

_Beans._

…_Well, go figure._

Chell shrugged as she sloppily poured its contents into the bowl.

The man watched on in observant silence as Chell gagged taking down her first scoop of the horrible tasting beans. He hadn't moved even a step away from her bedside.

Was he getting comfortable there? Chell hoped not.

"…So, I'm gonna need to ask you a couple'o questions."

Chell glanced up at him, still struggling to get the rest of the goopy beans down her throat.

"It's a mandatory process. You gotta answer these if ya wanna stay."

Chell nodded slightly, a vague indication that she was listening.

"First off, where did you come from?"

Anticipating that question, Chell jabbed a finger at her shirt, pointing at the light blue logo of the corporation she knew all too well.

"…Aperture…Science?" The man squinted as he slowly read the sign aloud.

Chell nodded, quickly getting back to her food.

"I can't say I ever heard'a them before." The man said, traces of suspicion evident in his voice.

Chell disregarded his comment, hurriedly gulping down what was left in her bowl.

"…Come on, don't lie to me." The man said quietly. "Tell me where you came from."

Chell gave him a pointed look, before jabbing her finger on the same Aperture logo.

What else was there to say? It wasn't like she _could_ lie anyway.

For several long minutes the man stared at the woman, as if considering her answer, his face tightening into an unreadable expression.

A tense quiet followed, the sudden silence and weight of it all unnerving Chell. The man was usually more conversational, cheery even, but now he was silent and scrutinizing, his glaring eyes not moving from their target. Chell, nervous as she was, met with those eyes head-on. She wasn't backing down to him, especially since she had done no wrong.

"…Heh." The man suddenly exclaimed, breaking into a short, barking guffaw.

Chell flinched. She didn't like the sound of his loud laughter. It sounded forced, almost _commanding_. In a different way from Glados, he sounded malevolent. And deep under the mask of her stoic posture, it _scared_ her.

"Yer a stubborn one aren't ya?" The man said, an unnatural grin plastered on his face.

Chell quickly avoided his gaze, setting down the now empty bowl and can of beans on the metal tray. She didn't like where this was headed, and she wanted to end the conversation as fast as possible.

"Don't worry, I'll get that for ya."

The man reached out to take her tray, and slowly, reluctantly, Chell handed it back.

"I'll get back to ya when I can. Stay put a'ight?" He smiled. Tray in hand, the man slowly walked back to the opening.

"...Oh, one last question." He turned back to Chell. "Do you know what I am?"

Chell tilted her head, confused at the man's sudden inquiry.

_No. _She shook her head.

"Hmm." The man nodded briefly before setting out for the door again.

"Just get ready for another round o' questions. Okay? See ya."

He waved his hand to her one last time, before leaving the room. The door creaked as it swung closed, the sound soon followed by the man's footsteps as he slowly left the area, putting Chell, and the silence that accompanied her, behind him.

Chell sat there, idly thinking about what just happened. To be honest, she didn't know _what_ to think. For a second there, he _changed_. For a second there he seemed more like an enemy than a friend. Chell gulped, an uneasy feeling enveloping her gut.

Whatever happened back there, she didn't like it.

It was then, she first began to doubt.

* * *

Something was wrong here.

Chell didn't know what it was, but that feeling of insecurity always lingered.

Staring idly out of her window, she could just make out the figures of a small group of people in the distance, all but a few who seemed to be tending to the wheat in the fields.

Thinking about it, Chell noted, it was the first time she had seen other people.

A couple of them wore the same uniform the man did, their faces covered with odd white masks as they watched on while the others toiled. In their hands they held up thick black sticks – what they were used for, Chell would soon find out.

The rest of the crowd adorned themselves all over in what seemed like blue denim, a striking contrast from the men in masks. The wide array of women, men – all sorts of people – were kneeling by the wheat, harvesting what they could with small scythes in hand. All of them were hunched down, quietly working on as they coolly disregarded each other's presence.

From her safe perch, Chell watched on silently.

Even from afar she could tell that something was _off_.

The workers seemed agitated, they never lingered in one place for long and stayed as far as they could from the uniformed men surrounding them. It was as if they _feared_ them, and clustering around one another gave them strength.

The masked men on the other hand, circled the group at a leisurely pace, the three of them keeping their distance from one another as they walked on, weary of the slowly growing group of civilians and of each other.

It was then the accident happened.

A worker, a young woman in blue, tripped, toppling a large basket containing the wheat the group harvested. A silent shock enveloped the people, all of them watching in horror as thousands of small golden grains spilled to the ground, a good part of their work wasted.

The woman stayed kneeling on the soil, dazed by the fall and just finally realizing the weight of her mistake.

What would happen after, Chell could only describe as_ horrible_.

The masked men were the first to act. After the initial shock had passed, one of them, the nearest to the woman, approached her in large strides as she cringed back, her arms raised above her in defense. For a fleeting moment the man seemed to loom over her, observing her as she trembled in fear. Slowly, gradually, he raised his stick.

If she made a sound, Chell couldn't hear it.

Vigorously, violently, the man began beating her down with his stick, blow after blow striking the defenseless woman relentlessly on her frail, weak body. The others in the crowd stood mortified as they watched their ally get punished, ashamed and afraid as they were to see it. From the other sides of the crowd, the two masked men quickly caught on to the situation, herding the people back to their usual positions with their own menacing black sticks. Heads bowed low and shaken tears in their eyes, the people carried on with their work, many attempting, and failing, to keep the anguished cries of their ally away.

By the window Chell suppressed the urge to turn away, a slow spreading sense of dread seeping across her body.

In front of her, one human had just _died_.  
Beaten to death. Just like that. Killed by another human just like her.  
And though she knew she could have done nothing to save her, the thought of witnessing that moment bothered her without end.

From afar, she could see the particular masked man returning to his place among the other two, enjoying idle conversation with his colleague as if nothing had just happened. It sickened her to see that he wasn't affected by what he had done. To kill someone and act like there was nothing wrong, it – it was not natural. With that action he had degraded himself to a monster, a _beast_ incapable of empathy.

It was then one of the men in the crowd began to stir.

Slowly, surely, a man in blue denim rose up, standing lone and tall amongst his peers whom were all hunched down in fear. The farthest of the three masked men noticed him, but even before he could take out his own stick, the man had made his move.

Without warning, he lunged at the talking men, a ravaged fist landing heavily on one masked man, the assailant of the woman. Before the man could react, he was pushed down, heavy blows landing on his guarded white mask. In newfound shock, the others in the crowd stood up as well. In front of their eyes they witnessed the man, their _ally_ beating up a _soldier_, a superior force to which they all had no control over.

The victory of the man was short-lived though, and soon the two other masked men pried him off their colleague, holding him in place as the beaten soldier wobbled back to an upright position.

Another fool to be punished.

When the soldier stabilized himself enough to stand, he kicked several times at the man's stomach, each blow landing with vengeance. Over and over, over and over he tortured the man until the victim had nothing left in his stomach to empty.

When he'd had enough, the soldier signaled for his colleagues to let go, making the limp body of the man drop unceremoniously to the ground. On his knees the man heaved heavily, coughing and hacking in pain as the soldier took out one last weapon from under his vest.

A small handgun.

In the distance, a sharp, explosive sound resonated to Chell's ears.

As if in slow-motion, she could see the man's head rise up one last time, his eyes wide and desperate as she caught them, giving her one last look, one last plead for life before they rolled back into his head, his body falling quietly, almost peacefully, to the ground.

Chell looked away from the window. She had seen enough.

Trembling in fear and shock, Chell could hear her own gasping breaths, each coming out more painful than the last. Alone in the plain, white hospital room, Chell drowned in her own negative thoughts.

Fear, anger, and disgust.

It took some time, but slowly, gradually, her breath evened out. In silence, she raised her head, gripping her knuckles until they turned white. She had made her decision.

God forbid they would impose the same treatment on her. For all that she worked for to escape Aperture, for all the deaths that she cheated underground, she would never, _never_ be subjected to this. She had won against Glados. She was _free_.

And that was why she would have to escape.

* * *

Before long it was dusk.

The sun had fallen from the horizon, leaving behind it a magnificent sky of dark purple and small white lights, countless stars in the sky that had just begun to reveal itself.

Many of the uniformed men had returned from their duties, the sound of their unmasked voices and footsteps filling the hall. Only a few stood guard outside, though most were idle in their work, saving their energy for the rest of the late night shift.

Amongst the clatter of people enjoying their dinner and talking to colleagues, and the steadily growing volume of what seemed like a message from a radio from overhead, Chell had been silently studying the presumed military compound from her window, calculating her best way out.

It was time.

With the darkness to cover her, Chell knew her best chance for escape would be in the night. _This_ night.

Peeking through the small window that lay just behind her bed, she calculated the distance of the fall. In the dark it was hard to judge, but it seemed she was pretty high above ground. Without sure and solid footing, this fall would possibly be dangerous, even with her long-fall boots attached.

Hesitantly, she glanced behind her, the companion cube still glowing softly by her bed side.

If she wanted to do this hazardous fall, she would have to be able to see her footing.

And the companion cube was the only light she had.

Slowly she set the cube on her bed, patting gently on its charred sides. Originally she had planned to escape without it, acknowledging the fact that it's glowing, pink light was as much as an obstacle as it was an asset. The cube's light, as helpful as it was for navigating in the dark fields, was also helpful to those looking for _her_. It was a beacon pinpointing her exact location, a telltale sign that she attempted escape.

She could still leave it. She could just abandon it here, throw away the unnatural tool which lost its meaning outside Aperture. But however much she tried to convince herself to dispose of the cube, she knew she couldn't. And she wouldn't.

In a weird way, it was still her friend. And for the moment, she still needed it.

With some force, she pushed the cube out the open window, watching it as it landed with a silent '_Klunk_' on the ground. Its pink, pulsing light illuminated the ground around it, lightening up just where she would land. Chell inhaled quietly, one foot on the window ledge as she readied herself for the long jump.

_Creak._

Chell froze.

From behind her she heard the door open and close, a man humming faintly as heavy footsteps came closer and closer toward her bed.

It was _him_.

Chell panicked, her body a complete statue as her brain screamed for it to move.

Nearer and nearer the footsteps came, nearer and nearer, until it came to a complete stop.

"Hey lady-" The man stopped abruptly, the tray he was holding and the contents of it crashing down to the floor.

"What are you doing?"

_Come on, don't do this to me now. _Chell silently willed her body to move.

"…Get down from there, it's dangerous." The man's voice wavered slightly, his usually optimistic tone darkening.

_I've got to move, come on, I've got to go!_

"Get. Down." The man's voice was dead serious now.

_GO!_

Chell clicked back to her senses, her feet pushing off just in time as the man reached to grab her.

A rush of air surrounded her, blindness and panic overcoming her. Shielding her eyes with her arms, she set both feet safely underneath her, instincts she had picked up in Aperture driving her on as she fell. Landing hard on the soft soil, she breathed heavily as she felt the boots suck up the impact, staggering slightly as she rose to stand.

Above her she glimpsed the man, both hands set on the windowsill, his mouth agape with shock and disbelief.

Despite herself, Chell managed a small snicker.

Once again she had cheated capture. But still she wasn't safe. Not yet.

Limping off into a steady run, Chell left the man, the cube, and civilization behind her. This time, it would be her turn to leave that room.

~oOo~

Three floors above ground in the infirmary, the man stood completely still, one hand on the windowsill where the unknown female in the orange jumpsuit fell from, completely unharmed by what would have normally been a fatal fall. For some moments he was completely silent, his brain still absorbing what had happened in front of him.

Silently, he chuckled to himself. A dry, throaty laugh that soon turned into a deep, quiet growl in his throat.

Slowly he reached for the white, hard gas mask he'd stuffed in behind his belt, a small transmission device concealed within its inner space. Calmly placing it over his head, he whispered into the microphone.

"…Steve?"

"Yes Nick, I'm hearing you." A voice answered from beyond his intercom.

"I request a squad for a manhunt. _Now._"

"What? Why?" Steve asked, confused by his colleague's sudden order.

"The girl," Nick chuckled quietly. "She's a runner."


	4. Run Chell Run

_Authors Note: So far I've been a turtle at updating this story, updating it only once in two weeks rather than once in one. I'm sorry but for now I'll probably have to change the updates to that schedule- that is until I write up some stock chapters to begin uploading on a regular basis. Hopefully that won't be too long._

**_The current schedule for this story is to be updated once in two weeks, most probably around a Friday or Saturday._**

_Thanks for reading/following/reviewing (I love everyone who reviews) and please, do enjoy the story._

* * *

It wasn't long before her ankle began to sting.

Chell grimaced, crouching down in the cover of the tall wheat.

_Definitely sprained._ She noted to herself.

Well it was no surprise, after that hasty fall from the window. It was dark, it was high, and she hadn't expected the man to show up that soon. Somehow she was able to land on her feet (The heavy long-fall boots never failed to fulfill purpose) but the impact of her fall on the soft soil created a small depression into which she landed, ultimately causing her to land in an awkward, twisted stature. In a way it was lucky that she hadn't suffered any worse.

_Goddamnit._

From her spot in the ground she could still see the lights.

Small but blinding flashlights lighted up the dark fields. Around them she could almost hear the voices, muffled under the men's odd white masks.

They were still searching for her.

Chell kept low and quietly inched away from the men.

It wasn't long before a search party was formed to hunt her down.

They had mobilized the team much faster than she had anticipated, and with the injury in her leg she knew she wasn't escaping anywhere fast. On the contrary, she was covering far less distance than she had initially hoped to run. Under the darkness she could be safe for now, but soon even that wouldn't be enough.

Running, as good as the idea sounded to her at the time, was definitely _not_ the right choice. _Especially_ on that particular night, in a panic, under direct view of the man she was running from. Everything was coming out of hand. Her calculations and plans meant nothing if they didn't apply to her current situation.

Chell groaned inwardly. She had _definitely_ goofed up.

As intelligent and cautious as she was, Chell was compulsive, acting more on the need and moment rather than thoroughly thinking it through. For the most part luck had sided with her, but there were times it would turn against her, biting back with terrible consequences. Now was definitely one of those times.

Chell continued on crouching as she observed the men quietly from behind the thin wheat stalks. From what she could see, a group of five men had come searching for her, all equipped with flashlights, full armor, and a beating stick. Through their masks leaked muffled voices, all of them monotone – mechanical, even – each sounding identical to the rest. In the wheat field they were spread far and sparsely across, every person from different locations and distances. From all around her they appeared, flashing their torches slowly, methodically around the field.

Chell was trapped.

"I can't see nothing sir. Are you sure she's here?" One of the masked men from her far left turned to question his superior.

"…She came toward this general direction, so just keep looking. Without that 'light' of hers, I doubt she could'a gone that far." A man to her right, (Presumably the team leader) replied curtly.

"We're supposed to catch her alive, right? Why? Can't we just shoot her?" Another man asked idly toward his teammate.

"You ass. It's a girl we're talking about here. Would you shoot an innocent, unarmed girl?" A fourth man said, jokingly nudging the other guy in the shoulder.

"What the hell man, it's not like I'm the only one that does that. Jeez, you do it too!"

"Ha! So you admit it! You wife beater you-"

"Shut up and keep searching." The team leader growled at the bickering two.

"…But sir, why _are_ we supposed to keep this one alive? She's just a runner, isn't she? Can't we just shoot her down like we do with the rest?" The first man asked timidly.

The team leader lowered his flashlight and stared at the man, as if pondering on whether to punish the soldier for questioning his superior without permission.

Hidden in the shadows of the tall wheat stalks, Chell held her breath. If he moved any closer to the other man, she would surely be found by his flash light.

_Stay there, stay there- just please don't get any closer._ She prayed silently.

For an agonizing second he considered his options, spreading a heavy silence amongst the other members of his team.

Eventually, he opted to stay in his place.

"…She's special." The man finally replied.

"Y'all saw her, right? She didn't have the standard citizen uniform on, or any type of identification on her. She came here through the fields, _not_ through the city. If she was a usual runner, she would'a come the _opposite_ way. If she's was a usual runner, she wouldn't have gone straight to a metrocop watchtower, for pete's sake!"

"Um, but sir, I still don't get-"

"She didn't know what I was. She didn't recognize what _we_ were."

"-Huh?"

"And by the looks of it, she doesn't know what happened."

"Sir? What do you mean by that?"

"…She doesn't know about the Combine."

A wave of shock enveloped the group at those words, the masked men freezing in their places at the full understanding of what their superior had just said.

"But-but that's impossible!" One man blurted out.

"It's nearly twenty years since the invasion! The whole damn _world's_ changed, there's no way she could've not known about it until today!"

"That's the thing." The team leader said calmly.

"You see, there is _no_ way she could've gone about not knowing any of this, unless she was hidden away underground since she was a kid – which we all know is not possible under the Combine's eyes – or was somehow inactive from the world until this day."

"And do you know who else was supposedly dead for these twenty years? The one man who came back, unchanged after so long?

…Gordon Freeman from the Black Mesa incident."

A surge of terror ran through the men, all knowing about the myths and stories behind that legendary name. It was the one man – a scientist of all people – who defied their predecessors in the military so long ago, and the same man who turned the tables of the twenty year rule of the Combine over humanity- in just a single week. The thought of that one person, much less the thought of fighting against him, sent nervous chills down the soldiers' spines. None but a several few had seen Freeman in person- once you went out to fight him, there was usually no living to tell the tale.

"…You can't be saying that she's connected to _him_, are you?" One of the men coughed nervously.

"No," The leader replied bluntly. "But I'm saying that there's a possibility."

In her position by the wheat, Chell rustled uncomfortably.

It had been some time since she had last stood up, and along with her leg cramps, she could feel her ankle get progressively worse. The men still stood around her hiding spot in an uncomfortably tight circle – if she moved now, their lights would undoubtedly find her. Cramped, injured, and tensed up, Chell nervously waited for her chance to escape.

For a good amount of time she had been keenly listening to the men's conversations, at times catching and not catching what words they said to each other in their muffled voices. What she heard, she understood perfectly- but what they said had made her confused nonetheless.

What the hell where they talking about? _Who_ the hell where they talking about? Though she recognized the word, 'Black Mesa', a rival company of Aperture which its former CEO; Cave Johnson seemed to despise, she had no idea, nor any interest to know of who this 'Gordon Freeman' was.

"When I asked her where she'd come from, she pointed at this logo on her shirt- a logo that read; 'Aperture Laboratories'." The man continued, gesturing to his own chest.

"Any of you heard about it?"

Silence.

"I thought so." He said brusquely.

"I couldn't get any more out of her, but there's the possibility that she'd been contained by an anti-Combine, or another, possibly dangerous group. Black Mesa, a large scaled science corporation had gone against the Combine in the past. It's no surprise that another organization would follow in its steps."

"…Men, you should all recognize the fact that we need answers. And we need her _alive_ to get those answers." He finished in a commanding tone. "Do you understand?"

"Sir, yes sir!" The others raised their hands to their head, all of the team saluting their leader but one man who stood silently in his place. Soon the group scattered and went back to doing their original job; searching for Chell. In what felt like complete silence they searched for the runaway, now having fulfilled their curiousity.

In the darkness Chell clutched her fist in excitement.

The men had moved far enough for her to sneak out without them noticing. _Finally _she could escape.

Slowly, cautiously she kept herself low as she moved away, determined to get far, far away from the damned group as possible. From the corner of her eyes she could see one of the soldiers, the silent man from before, gesturing the leader to come closer. He was possibly trying to start a conversation with him, but what they were going to say, Chell knew was of no importance to her at the moment.

From behind her field of view, Steve pulled out his mask.

"…Nick, I don't like what you're trying to do." He said quietly towards the man.

"Put your damn mask back on. You're still at work." The leader, Nick, scowled in reply.

"No, Nick. I need to talk to _you_. If I keep my mask on, everyone else would be able to hear me." He replied curtly. "If you have any intent on listening, I suggest you do the same."

Defeated, Nick followed suit. Pulling off his own mask, he snarled darkly.

"This better be damn important."

A moment of silence passed between the two, Nick's eyes glaring into Steve's own.

"Nick, I know what you're thinking, but don't do it." He finally said.

"What? What do you think _you_ know, smartass?"

"This is going against all protocol." Steve said, nervously averting his eyes from his friend's fierce glare. "This is going against all we've learned, all we've ever been told to do by the Combine. You can't just get away with something like this, Nick. Even if you get away with it now, something bad is bound to happen later. We'll all get punished if the upper classes find out about this."

"…Get to the point." Nicked snapped impatiently.

"We're not supposed to _look_ for people, much less runaways, and keep them _alive_, Nick. We're supposed to punish them, and _teach_ them not to underestimate the Combine. We're supposed to_ kill _them." He said quietly. "You're not doing anyone a favor by trying to save her."

In the darkness, Steve couldn't see Nick's face flash red with fury.

"…Fuck off." He growled at the man.

"I know what you're thinking, Nick." Steve's voice wavered as he tried to focus on the ground, scared but determined to make his point. "I saw her too. I know. She looks exactly like _her_."

"But she isn't _her_, Nick." He paused. "…She's been dead for a long time now."

The brief moment that passed between them seemed to spread on for hours, an eternity without end. When Steve finally noticed Nick's clenched hand, it was all too late for him to react. Swiftly, painfully, Nick's fist collided with Steve's chin.

_Crunch._

The man wobbled back and fell, the powerful blow resonating throughout his skull. A soft wheeze escaped his lungs, and with a small cough, he could taste the blood running in his mouth. Over him Nick stood tall, his fists still clenched tightly and his face ridden in shadow. On the soft, muddy ground, Steve laid defenseless.

"Don't you _dare_ say that again." He hissed.

"I am your superior, and I will _not_ tolerate insubordination to _my_ orders." He said menacingly. "You are under_ me_, and you will listen to _my_ orders without question."

Steve looked up at the man, still stunned by the blow.

A dull, heavy feeling of dread filled his head. Nick was angry. He knew that much- _he _was the one who reminded him about _her_, anyway.

He shouldn't have done that.

He _definitely_ shouldn't have done that.

On the ground, Steve pitifully shut his eyes and prayed- an instinctive reflex he had picked up from being around him. Steve knew that Nick didn't act rationally toward anger. He, of all people, knew the full weight of Nicks wrath.

When Nick stooped down to get on Steve's level, he braced himself, preparing for the worst. To his surprise, soft words greeted him instead of another dull blow.

"…I'll handle what's above you. If any punishments do come out of this, I'll be the one to take it, not you." Nick crouched toward him, his thin, humourless grin hanging in the faint light of Steve's now-broken flashlight.

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing." He said, holding his hand out to the other man.

Hesitantly, Steve took it, letting Nick help him get back on his feet.

Not a word of thanks, or apology was shared between the two. Shaken and ashamed of himself, Steve decided not to push any further. If he wanted to go through with it that badly, then let him, he thought.

No punishments could be worse than Nick himself.

In silence, Steve put his mask back on, continuing his search for Chell. This time, the silence wouldn't be broken.

* * *

It might have been some thirty minutes, or even several hours.

However long it was, to Chell it felt like _days_.

She still couldn't lose them.

However much far she went, however quietly she crept away from them, it seemed like one of the men could sense where she was, staying close (But not close enough to finding her) to her spot at all times.

She was getting desperate.

If they kept at this game of hide and seek until the morning, she would be found on the spot. Well, that was if she _could_ keep at it for that long. None of the men seemed to be getting tired, and though a number of them whined that she was a lost case, one word from their leader kept them going. She on the other hand was dangerously fatigued, and her movements were getting sloppy. Only the determination to escape kept her active, but she knew that it wouldn't last forever.

Aching all over, scared and irritated out of her mind with tension and fatigue, Chell hid quietly by the tall grass. She was tired as it was, and the pain in her ankle had not stopped hindering her movements. In afterthought, it was no doubt one of those factors that began hindering her thoughts. Yet again, she was beginning to think irrationally.

She would run.

Illogical as it was to do that with the unconditional darkness surrounding her, and her painfully twisted ankle, it was the only choice that made sense.

If she couldn't out-hide them, then she definitely _would_ out-distance them.

Under the safe, dark cover of wheat, Chell waited.

It wasn't long before the chance presented itself.

Time and time again, the men unconsciously surrounding her would drift away from each other, leaving open spaces for Chell to escape. In the past Chell had tried to inch away from the men, silently creeping away from their vicious, bright lights, but every time she had covered a considerable distance the men would catch up to her, repeating the endless cycle of hide-and-go-seek.

Now they all had their backs toward her, each unconsciously triggering the start of another cycle.

But Chell didn't creep away. This time, she stood.

And this time, she ran.

~oOo~

It was the odd crunch of soil, the faint rustle of the stalks that gave her away.

Before the man saw it, he heard the sound, prickling his ears and slowly, nervously turning to see behind him.

On the edge of his peripheral vision he could almost make out the shadow, a small change in the constant darkness surrounding him.

There was movement.

~oOo~

On the other side of the field, Chell cursed her limp ankle.

She was running alright, better than she had expected to do with it, but it was _too loud_. On the ground she could hear the thumping of her own feet as they hit the ground, one foot particularly louder than the other, a dragging, heavy sound that she couldn't hide.

From behind her she could hear the muffled voices of the alert men, each message becoming louder and louder as they noticed her escape.

In the dark of the fields, Chell's mind rang as she could hear footsteps that didn't belong to her pick up pace, beams of light blinding in her surroundings as they frantically searched around, finally, alarmingly, stopping on her.

~oOo~

"Get her!" Nick yelled at his men.

One man had noticed movement in the grass, alarming the others with a yell that he had found her. It wasn't long before the rest had caught on to his message, all of them running after her, electrical sticks sheathed and ready.

One of them had even managed to pin her down with his flashlight, and though she had dodged the light left and right, it had made it much easier to pinpoint her location.

She wasn't going to let herself be caught so easily.

Uncomfortable in the darkness the men chased after her, each fumbling with their flashlights as they ran hesitantly along. She on the other hand seemed perfectly fine with running in the dark, and she ran gingerly, agilely dodging the blows that the men had tried to give with their sticks.

Eventually, she fought back.

With a swift right swing she hit the man nearest to her, the shock of her blow knocking his flashlight off his hands. At that he fell behind, momentarily blinded by the darkness without the guidance of his flashlight.

Nick growled quietly. Somehow he had hoped that she would let herself get caught without a fight, now that she had been spotted. Apparently she wasn't so soft.

He didn't want to do it, but if that was the way she was going to play it, then he had no choice but to turn to drastic measures. Violent measures.

"I'm sorry." He muttered to no one in particular.

This was for her own good. Maybe one day, she would come to understand.

~oOo~

Her heart hammered in panic and her brain screamed multiple incoherent thoughts as she continued to run.

She had punched a man. That was definitely a first.

Not long after she fought the first, the second man came up toward her, another blunt weapon swinging recklessly in his hand. She heard a soft _whoosh_ as she gingerly dodged the stick, very nearly hitting (And possibly breaking) her nose. With a sturdy push her left arm and shoulder connected with the man's vested (But otherwise unguarded) torso, sending him toppling uncontrollably to the ground.

It sure was a relief to know that she had gotten used to thinking clearly while plummeting to the ground at dizzyingly fast speeds.

Because running was definitely slower than falling.

Again, Chell had begun to feel hope.

Two down- there was only three left running. If she kept up with this, she could possibly run them off. It was going to be no dream for her to escape this time.

Finally, maybe this time, she'd be _safe-_

~oOo~

Nick jumped at the girl, tackling her from the side.

On the ground they both rolled, a flurry of panic and fruitless resistance from the girl before Nick eventually turned out on top. The girl, eyes and teeth clenched shut, had not even uttered a shriek in her panic. Without missing a beat, he grabbed his stick, raising it nearly directly above her head.

He thought he could almost feel her horror.

He thought she would have become so weak by now, so near the breaking point after going this far to be caught in a way like this. Every human, however strong, turned weak in the end.

But when she finally opened her eyes, he was greeted with something completely different.

In the faint light of the moon, two pale metallic eyes met with his. Unmoving, and unwavering. Not in horror, not even in wrath. Just a blank, stoic expression.

For a second, he was taken aback. He flinched unconditionally, a nervous reaction running through his body for reasons he didn't quite understand himself.

Was this the face of a prisoner whose life was put at the mercy of another person's hands? Was this the expression of horror on a human who had just lost so much?

…_Whichever it is, _Nick thought to himself. _She certainly does a good job of hiding it._

Swiftly, efficiently, Nick swung down his weapon.

In the dark of the wheat field a large sound resonated through the soft soil, shaking up the quiet stalks of wheat from their roots.

The eerie silence that spread after that, seemed to last for an eternity to come.

* * *

When Chell woke up, she found herself on a bed. _Again._

This time though, the man, the masked man she recognized all too well was sitting by her bed, ready to greet her as she groggily rose up.

"G'morning Sunflower." He smiled thinly.

Chell ignored him, lightly touching the side of her head where it was patched up, wrapped over and covered by thick gauze.

"Don't worry bell, I didn't break any part of your pretty lil' face." He said (She thought) mockingly. "Hell, if you're lucky, you might've even skipped out on the trauma-induced-brain-damage part!"

_Surprise, surprise. So now I've got brain damage. This wouldn't be I've the first time I've heard that. _Chell grunted in reply.

A small silence passed between the two.

Fiddling with his fingers, the man coughed lightly, trying (And succeeding) to get Chell's attention.

"…So I'm guessing that you don't like being questioned, huh?" The man said quietly.

Chell looked at him with her head slightly tilted as if he had just pointed out the obvious. He _had,_ in fact.

"Uh-huh." The man nodded towards her.

"I'm here to propose a deal for ya." He clasped his hands, looking her straight into the eye.

"If you take it, I assure you that there'll be no more questions asked. You'll be safe, and free from the consequences of the city as long as you accept it."

Chell's ears pricked up, her attention now wholly taken by his words.

"Join the Civil Protection." The man stated bluntly. "I want you to become one of us."

For a second she froze, the realization of his words hitting her hard.

He wanted…To make _her_ one of _them?_

He wanted to make her one of the men who she had done so hard to run away from, the men who ruthlessly killed another for no apparent reason other than wholly unnecessary punishment? What the hell was he _thinking?_

For several minutes she weighed down her options, the need for safety, but the feeling of horror still fresh in her mind. She didn't fully trust the man either, and she knew too little of him to acknowledge his integrity. However much she couldn't trust him though, she still believed that he was probably a good man. For one thing, he was oddly worried for a person he'd never met before.

_What have you to lose?_

A voice echoed in her head.

…_Nothing. _Chell sighed back at it.

It was true, anyway. She _did_ have nothing to lose. And however much she thought about it, there was nothing bad about accepting his proposal. No demerits, no immediate faults. Even if it meant joining the enemy, her safety would still be assured.

_This is the safest move I can make for now._ She convinced herself.

After a silence that seemed to have lasted for hours on end, Chell slowly, almost hesitantly nodded to the man's proposal.

At that the man on her bedside grinned brightly, a real, genuine smile of relief that she had never seen him wear before.

"Now that you're one of us, I guess I have to introduce myself now, don't I? _Partner._" The man gleamed, offering his hand up to shake. "I'm Nick." He said.

"Welcome to the Overwatch."

(Chapter 3 end: 2013/09/01)


	5. The Other Survivor

_Authors Notes: Hi, sorry for the one day late chapter. This again was supposed to be connected with the next chapter, but I decided against it. At least for now. I might re-write it later._

_I actually have one Easter egg from another valve game in this chapter. Write in the reviews if you think you found it. ;D_

* * *

The two old doors of the elevator slid open with an automatic-sounding _'ding'_ as the man with an overly-sized cube at his feet peered nervously into the dark opening before him.

A moment of eerie silence passed, and from the darkness a small, malevolent red light flickered to life.

"Target acquired."  
The quiet mechanical voice echoed throughout the small elevator.

"_Duck!"_

Instinctively the man did as he was told to without a moment of hesitation, using his cube as cover while the explosive sound of bullets being fired rang in his ears.

"_Goddamnit! I told you this wasn't a good idea!"_

Bullets whizzed past him and dug themselves straight into the once lavishly cushioned wall of the elevator. Others made their impact on his already battered cube, loyally guarding the haggard man from whatever hazards befell him.  
He was fumbling with a small panel covered in various buttons and switches, a manual control panel for the elevator situated in the very back of the vehicle. Why it was there, nobody really knew. But then again, Aperture always had a knack for creating overly complicated and wholly unnecessary machines.

_Down, down down down…  
_The man repeated in his thoughts as he desperately searched for the right button to make the elevator move.

"_I told you! I just knew this would happen!"_

The elevator made an audible creak, its cushioned wooden walls cracking under the impact of the unrelentless rain of bullets.  
It wasn't going to hold out for long.

"…I've got it!"  
The man finally yelled, setting his finger down on a single, yellow button.

Almost immediately the elevator began to dip down, its speed gradually increasing as the elevator began its descent.  
The doors stayed open as the lift continued down, the bullets of the turret flying frantically in all directions, as if trying to hit the entirety of its moving target.

In the cover of the companion cube, the man still hid, cautious as ever to avoid the last spray of bullets. Luckily for him, it wasn't long before the elevator had moved out of range from the turret's fire, and he could move again.

Controlling his urge to curse, the man massaged his temples in silence and waited for his heartbeat to slow down. Cautiously, thoroughly he assessed any damage done to him.

No injuries sustained. Good.

"_I feel it's a little too early to think your safe."_

The man squinted at his cube, a mix of confusion and slight fear twisting his lax expression.

"…What?" His voice wavered.  
"_Do you remember where we are? What type of elevator we're in?"  
_"Of course I do. We're in one of the old guest elevators, the ones our public 'Visitors' from the government used to use to get inside the mine."  
"_Exactly. We're in one of the _old_ elevators."  
_"And what's the problem with that?"  
"…_Do you remember? It was only the newest elevators, the ones accessible by Glados that were made to be controlled with air pressure."_

An odd muffled sound of constant battering, not much unlike the sound of a mechanical drill going on without end rang through his head as realization finally hit him.

The man stifled a gasp and looked up at the elevator ceiling in panic.

_Oh god no._

The old public elevators were created standard to their time, with none of the fancy air pressure controlled locomotion technology (That was reserved for the test subjects and testing area navigation, as many of the scientists were still skeptical about the 'Making an elevator float in a tube unsupported by ropes without falling to your death' concept) and a slightly more appropriate design for any average guest going into the facility. Even to Aperture standards at the time they were simple contraptions, just a large wooden box with buttons connected to a belt, a pulley, and some gears.

Yes, he remembered now. They were connected to a belt that suspended them in mid-air.  
A flimsy, little _rope, _the only thing stopping them from crashing to a hard and painful death.

"…_Doug."  
_"_That turret hasn't stopped shooting."_

The sound of countless bullets hacking at what remained of the belt rang through the man's head, and for a fleeting second he was reminded of the old prototype turrets, many of which lacked the ability to differentiate their targets, resulting to simply shoot everything that moved.  
Over the muffled noise of the bullets the elevator gave a loud creak, jolting diagonally to the side. At this man and cube were both thrown off-balance, the man making a desperate grab for his companion cube as the already rapid descent of the opened elevator got faster with each second.

Somewhere in the distance, over the sound of endless bullets being fired, over the whooshing of the air around him, the man thought he heard subtle, quiet, _Snap_.

Freefall.

* * *

Even in the darkness, the man heard voices.

"_What did you expect to do? Did you really think you could escape this hell?"  
_"_You're a goner now. There's no way you'll get out of this here."  
_"_You lost that chance a long time ago."  
_"_From the moment you saved that girl, you'd killed yourself."  
_"…_You were always a disappointment…"_

Laughter accompanied their voices, each sound growing louder than the last, and they resonated throughout the man's head, over and over again. Their simultaneous words came like dull blows to him, each voice hitting on old scar, dark thoughts he had tried to put past him.

Even if he wanted to shut his ears, he couldn't. Even if he wanted to scream, his mouth wouldn't utter any sound. It wouldn't move. He couldn't make it move. Still the voices continued, laughing, jeering, relentlessly attacking him as he lay vulnerable.  
Silence wasn't a mercy meant for him, it seemed.

It was then he heard the voice.

"…_Doug…"_

It was a new voice, one he hadn't heard before. Faintly it whispered to him, fading in and out of his hearing as if it were coming from far away.

"…_Doug Rattmann…"_

It was an oddly familiar voice, a voice he recognized, yet couldn't place. Maybe a voice from the distant past, belonging to a man he had known once in his past life.

"…_Stop…."_

Did this voice come to hurt him too?

"_Stop sleeping on the job."_

Unconsciously the man gave a start, reacting to the words as if it had slapped him straight in the face.  
Or in this case, whacked him on the head with a rolled up magazine.

Distant memories flooded the man's head, and finally, the voice clicked.

~oOo~

_It was around 3:00 p.m., considerably late into the average working hours and he was huddled up by the desk at his cubicle, his arms folded underneath his head as he lay there quietly, fast asleep by the time the man crept up behind him. On the slightly balding, middle-aged man was a stark white lab gown he always wore with pride, and in his right hand a poorly concealed, rolled up magazine.  
__The man grinned as he looked down on the sleeping man. He always enjoyed this part of the day._

"_Doug Rattmann, I implore you to stop sleeping on the job!"  
__He boomed as he hit the unconscious young man once on his head with his magazine._

_At that the man shot up with a start, his uneven blue eyes searching frantically around for danger before they finally set on him._

"_Oh." The man said with irritation (and slight relief) in his voice. "Henry."  
_"_Mr. Cave Johnson didn't hire you to sleep! He hired you to work!" Henry continued on with a childish grin.  
_"_..." The man stayed silent.  
_"_But if you do insist on sleeping, the go ahead. I'm not going to be the one fired because of my laziness." Henry said sarcastically.  
_"…_Jesus Henry," The man groaned quietly. "You know that's not something to joke about."  
_"_Yeah, yeah. I know." Henry grinned sheepishly. "But really, do you get any sleep at night? It's like you're asleep here every time."  
_"…_I'm a little busy at night." The man quietly replied. "You know that, right? The DOS can't manage themselves, and now that George's gone I'm the only one around here who knows anything about the Aperture image formatting system."  
_"_Well. That makes sense, I guess." Henry looked away, momentarily befuddled by the man's words. Though he came past as a well-renowned engineer to his colleagues, he knew little to nothing about current I.T. technology and programs, especially if the systems were created by Aperture._

"_So, have you gone out of the mine recently?" Henry asked, subtly averting the focus of the conversation to a topic he understood better.  
_"_No. Have you?"  
_"_Yes I have, actually. Around three weeks ago."_

_In silence the man stared at Henry, his face twisting into an odd, confused frown as he thought quietly to himself._

"_What?"  
_"…_You must really love your job." He finally said.  
_"_Well of course I do." Henry grinned with pride. "I earned it, and I'm lucky to be here. In fact, we're all lucky to be here. I wouldn't have had it any other way-"  
_"_I know. I got it." The man cut him off mid-sentence. Knowing Henry and his never-ceasing love of the Aperture corporation and science in general, he quickly caught on to the fact that he was about to launch into another one of his long and winding speeches of praise.  
__Praise for Aperture. Praise for its advances in science and its discoveries in the field of artificial intelligence._

_The Genetic Life form and Disk Operating System._

_Even with his usual dose of anti-paranoiac medication, that robot still gave him the chills._

"…_I'm sorry Henry, I've got to go back to work." The man faced away from Henry, his fingers settling comfortably on the keyboard in front of him.  
_"_See you, and thanks for stopping by, I guess."_

_Henry, still slightly taken aback by the man's curt reaction to his speech, quietly took a step back, figuring it might be better to leave him alone._

"_Hey, Doug." Henry paused for one last time as he headed towards the door.  
_"_Hmm?" The man replied, feigning disinterest.  
_"_I'll talk with the boss and see if they can give you a day out around next Sunday." Henry said quietly. "I doubt it'd be too much of a problem to get it, you've been working hard for the past several months on the artificial intelligence project, and we're close to completion, anyway."  
_"_So when you do get the day off…" His voice trailed to momentary silence.  
_"_Go outside. See what you can and go back to greet your family or something. Don't try to stay here all the time, living underground like a rodent for the rest of your life. Just go outside and enjoy it."_

"_...Because you never know Doug, that might be the last time to you'll ever see the light of day."_

~oOo~

Lights.

The man's vision slowly blurred into focus as he tiredly stared up at the large, worn out Aperture logo above him.  
A hole where the elevator should've been hanging.

Idly he noted the various aches and bruises in his body, and the wet, moving sludge of water that consumed the bottom part of his trousers and his shoes. Slowly, painfully, he pushed himself up to a sitting position.

In front of him lay a rather deep pool of water, (Non-toxic, thank god) and floating above it where various pieces of what was once the wooden elevator, now reduced to shards of rubble and scrap. Feeling around his body for injuries, he was relieved to find that he had less bruises than he initially expected, and that he had come out pretty much unharmed, spare his soaked clothes and his still-sore head.

With a start, he realized that he was missing something. _His companion cube._

"_I'm still here you know."_

The man turned quickly to his right, finding with a sigh of relief, his pink, glowing companion cube as it seemed to bob underwater, just a little outside of the small mound of an island he was on.

"…What happened?" He asked, tongue still heavy.  
"_We fell. The turret's bullets cut right through the rope." _The voice paused as if in doubt. _"I'm not exactly sure what happened after that."_

"_The elevator broke through the ceiling above us, and I'm guessing that it splintered before we could reach the ground. We're not that hurt, so the fall must've been shorter than it seemed."  
_"_But then again, this isn't the first time we got lucky."_

The man stared glumly ahead, unable to appreciate that knowledge.  
Luck meant nothing if it couldn't get you out of Aperture.

He sighed quietly.  
They had failed again.

"_Don't be like that." _The voice chirped. _"At least we're still alive."  
_"_And as long as you're alive, there's still hope. Remember?"_

"…I remember." The man replied with a whisper.

Unconsciously he fumbled with his I.D., slipping the thin plastic card out of its case as he blankly examined it.  
Beside the large Aperture Science logo was a picture of a clean-shaven young man, his blue unbalanced eyes staring blankly, directly into his own. It was the face of a man that knew no true worries, no true fear or suffering. Even though he was paranoid, he was still an average man. No voice or ghostly fear could ever compare to the real thing.

Slowly, almost clumsily, he recited his name.

"Doug Rattmann."

It was the only sense of identity he had left.  
But maybe, he would have no need for it anymore.

"…No." The man- Doug steeled himself at the realization of his own thoughts.  
"I will _not _give up." He seethed and clenched his fists, as if readying himself for battle. "I will _never_ give up."

If the girl had escaped, then so would he. She had never given up, and he would follow in her footsteps.

"…_That's the spirit." _The cube said quietly to him.  
"_But if we really want to escape then we need to hurry. We don't have much time left."_

"I know."  
Doug stood and dusted himself off as he hoisted the cube on his back.

"Don't worry." Doug mumbled to the cube. "This time, we will find the exit."

* * *

It had barely been 18 hours since Glados had let Chell leave.

Though she was back on top, regaining her control over the now extensively broken down facility had been a slow and difficult task. It seemed the moron had destroyed more than she had anticipated, and her connections with several areas of the facility had been cut.  
At this rate, it would take days before she regained complete control.

Glados growled inwardly, considering for a nanosecond to bring the idiot core back to earth and torture him for what he'd done.

Even her cameras weren't fully functional, (A majority of her cameras had been replaced and re-wired to the large displays which covered only a very limited number of test chambers) and she couldn't see much of what was happening inside her facility.

But even if she couldn't see it, she could still feel it.

"…Oh my." Glados whispered to herself.

What had come to her was completely unexpected, and for a second she was too surprised to immediately react. She thought she had taken care of that problem.

In the old office section of the Aperture facility, a certain room had burst into flames.


	6. Fire Exit

_Authors Note: Sorry for the late chapter! I'll try to post another one by Sunday to catch up with the updates.  
__On another note, I think I find it really, really, easy to write as Doug Rattmann more than anyone else. I was on a friggin' ROLL with this chapter. Tell me how you liked it in the reviews, 'cause I'm severely lacking in that department, and I'm pretty damn proud of this chapter._

* * *

_"Oh please don't tell me you've gone mad."  
_The Cube groaned in an exasperated tone as Doug covered the last corners of the office room in a thick, black sludge.

"No, I haven't." Doug replied, rolling his eyes. "And even if I had, this wouldn't be the first time it happened."

In his hand he held a large plastic container, the quantities of sludge it contained unevenly covering the already darkened and dirty office room. It was only after some minutes that he finally set down the now light and empty container with a small, contented sigh. His job finished, Doug took a step back from the room, checking to see the results of handiwork.

What had once been a clean, white office area was turned into a barren room of grimy black liquid, all the objects that once had a functional use reduced to wooden pieces of rubble, or stacked up in the corner where Doug and the Cube stayed.

_"Tell me, what exactly _is_ this?"  
_"Well, it's liquid, it's black, and it came straight from the factory. I don't know the specifics, but I'm guessing that it's _obviously_ motor oil." Doug said sarcastically.  
_"…Well I'm sorry, I just didn't think oil would just be lying around there like that." _Cube seethed at him as if hurt.  
Doug shrugged.  
"I got some left-over's from the old core manufacturing wing." He replied simply. "It didn't take much time for me to figure out where we were after we fell. What do you think we used to oil these damned robots? What do you think we used to keep them moving? Magic? Or wait, let me guess, the blood of my fellow workmates?"

A shocked silence enveloped the two.

Even Doug, who had said the words, was momentarily taken aback. He swore, it wasn't supposed to turn out like that. But as quickly as the flash of regret stuck through him, it was gone. This wasn't the first time this happened. He was losing focus. Again, he was losing control.  
Slowly, subtly, his flimsy grip on sanity came crumbling down.

_"…Hey, don't do this to me." _Cube said silently. _"I don't want to be in this room as much as you do."_

Cube's voice wavered. It wasn't lying. It knew the office. It knew what happened there.  
And even though it hadn't seen the actual day, it had seen its remains. It had seen the numerous bodies of humans littered on the floor. All of them inanimate. All of them unnatural, cold, and unmoving.

All of them a victim to the venom of Glados.

"Oh really?" Doug sneered at the cube.  
"And what the hell do you think you know? What the hell do you think happened here?!" He gestured wildly at the room.  
_"Doug."_ Cube said calmly.  
"You're a fucking _cube_!" He yelled. "You're not even supposed to fucking talk!"  
_"Doug."  
_"Oh I'm insane, I've definitely gone insane haven't I? Can you believe it? I'm talking to a fucking _cube._" Doug began to laugh.  
_"Don't do this."  
_"…You must be happy. You _are_ happy, aren't you?" He glared down at the cube. "Everyone's _dead._ Oh, everyone's dead but me."  
_"Doug, stop it, you're having a fit again."_

Taking no heed of the cube, Doug began to laugh once more. As if in a trance, his eyes lost focus, staring in and out of the air around him. It was then he began to shake. He began to sputter.  
"I-I still hear voices." Doug stuttered madly. "It's them. It's them!"  
He sank to the ground, covering his ears with trembling hands.  
"I still see their shadows. They haunt me. The-they scream at me." He mumbled to himself. "They all want me to die too. They want to bring me with them."  
_"…" _Cube remained silent.  
"But I can't go with them. I know I deserve it, but I just can't. I can't go with them." Tears welled up in the man's eyes. "I don't deserve to live, but I-"

"-I don't want to die."

Silent tears hit the ground, but the man gave no notice of them, still trembling in fear as he tried, pitifully, pathetically, to hide away from whatever 'shadows' haunted him.

_"Doug…" _The cube murmured to him.  
"…I wasn't able to save even one life." Doug said as he covered his face in his hands.  
_"But you did."_

At that, Doug looked up from his 'Hiding position' behind his own hands, and stared, his eyes still hazy from his fit of confusion, at the cube beside him.

_"You saved the girl." _Cube said quietly. _"You saved Chell."_

Doug's eyes widened.  
Images of the girl in the folder flooded through his mind, the silent woman, the tenacious test subject. Number 1498.

"...Chell."

Yes, that was her name.  
Finally, from the pitch black pit of confusion and insanity he was in, a crack of light shown through.

For some long minutes Doug sat there, still dazed and gazing intently at his companion cube.

"…I saved her?" Doug murmured.  
_"Yes, you did." _Cube said calmly.  
"She escaped?" He wiped his eyes.  
_"We both saw the main elevator move up." _Cube replied. _"She was in it."_

Finally, Doug was getting back his senses.

Slowly, tiredly, Doug pushed himself of the ground.  
"…I guess we better get moving too, then." Doug said quietly as he slung the cube back on his make-shift bag.  
_"That's the spirit."_ Cube said reassuringly.

In silence, Doug pulled out a broken computer from inside the mound of rubble at the corner of the room, and opened the plastic case, revealing the broken, dangerous-looking multi-coloured wires which once controlled a functioning machine. Once again sitting back down on the ground, Doug took out a small wire-cutter which he kept in his pocket, and set to work on cutting the wires open.  
Cube looked on quietly. It had seen him do this multiple times before, when he used other broken computers as makeshift stoves to warm up his food.

"…Hey, friend, did I ever tell you about this?" Doug murmured absent-mindedly at the cube.  
_"Hmm?"  
_"Even before the awakening of Glados, a lot of the common elevators were rigged so that the workers couldn't easily get it to go topside." Doug let out a small, tired chuckle. "I guess Mr. Johnson really didn't like the lab boys skipping work."  
"Many of the elevators were programmed to break down during office hours, for lots of reasons, ridiculous reasons, and automatically fix themselves by the end of the day." He sighed quietly. "Oh the troubles that it caused us."  
_"…" _Cube said nothing.  
"It was a guy- this guy I knew called Derik who was the one in charge of controlling the elevator signal for work hours and the end of the day elevator pickup. Yes, I remember him now. He was always complaining to _me_ that people were always complaining to _him_ that he wouldn't let people out even if it was in a dangerous emergency that could cost people their lives- unless it was the end of the day." Doug paused. "Actually, I don't think he ever did get the chance to prove them wrong."

"Ironically enough, he was one of the first victims of Glados's neurotoxin."

_"…"_ Cube thought to itself.  
"Of course, those weren't the only elevators which led up to the surface." Doug continued, carefully cutting open the wires of the broken computer as he spoke.  
"There were also the guest elevators, the test chamber elevators, and the main elevators." He paused. "But amongst them, there were also the emergency elevators."

_"!" _The cube seemed to take in its breath, as if surprised.  
_"…Well,"_ The cube said, after a small pause, _"I don't think I've ever heard you talk about _that_ before."  
_"That's because I didn't think I needed to." Doug promptly replied. "I already tried getting to them several times before you came along, but it was no use."  
"As much as I don't want to admit it, Glados really is a cunning machine." He murmured quietly. "She thought of every possible escape, and blocked each and every one of them, so that it would form a complete lockdown in just the first 48 hours she had gained power over the facility."  
"To places she could reach, she sent out turrets and neurotoxin. That would be the guest elevators, the main elevator in her chamber, and, though not an elevator, the main lobby as well. Just in case any of the remaining employees came up with the idea to call for help, she left them without access to the only phone that could contact the surface." He sighed. "The places she couldn't reach; the office elevators, the emergency elevators and stairs, she blocked off completely. She did an override of the functioning pass-locks on several doors which led to several of the office elevators, and to which she couldn't even do that, she covered the entrances with heavy objects and walls, impossible to move with human strength alone."  
"But it was only after some time, after the majority of us died, when she finally did that." Doug let out a shaky breath. "She didn't need to, anyway."  
"Everyone knows it's almost impossible to climb up to the surface from here just by the stairs. The office elevators stayed broken, too. Derik never did make it out to the end of the day. All that was left were the emergency elevators, but they didn't help." Doug paused.

"…It wasn't like they didn't work." He finally said.  
"It was more like they didn't need to."

"The emergency elevators here have only two stops." He said quietly. "The office floors, and the surface."  
"Nothing above, nothing below, and nothing in between. No spaces for turrets on any floor, and no pass-code locks to override."

"Simple, quick, and efficiently made." Doug looked at the broken computer in his hand, its wires cut and finally ready for what it was meant to do.  
"If I were to praise any Aperture invention, I would praise that, and that alone." His lips curved upward, forming a thin smile. "Sadly, as with everything good in the world, even the elevator had its own faults."

"It's a fire exit." He said quietly. "It's a fire exit, created to react only when there's an emergency. It will only move when there's a _fire._"  
"…Neurotoxin didn't affect the system." He finished quietly. "It was gas, not smoke. But there were still some who believed it would come. The ones who had waited for that elevator, waited in vain."  
_"…"_ Cube said nothing.

Doug idly connected and disconnected the broken wires together, and slowly, surely, the already warm computer began showing weak, but nevertheless dangerous sparks and fizzes. Once again, Doug pushed himself away from the ground.

"I'm not sure how long it's been since then," He murmured to the cube. "And I don't think I'll ever know what's happened to the facility, but it seems as if everything's been ripped apart, aged, and flipped upside down."  
_"?"  
_"Everything's _broken._" He said quietly.  
_"What does that have to do with-"  
_"Do you see that wall over there?" Doug said, pointing at one of the entrances of the room not far from their position. "Do you see that door covered behind all the rubble?"

Cube in fact, did see it.  
From behind several crumbled scraps of metal and rust, two simple, Aperture-generic automatic doors peeked out. It was hidden behind the rubble. _Very_ well hidden, in fact. If Doug hadn't pointed it out to Cube, it might have even missed it.

"That's our exit."

_"!" _The cube gasped in surprise, finally realizing what Doug had meant to do this whole time.  
_"…You're planning to burn this whole place down, aren't you?"_ Cube whispered incredulously.

Doug nodded silently in reply.

_"…Will it work?" _Cube asked, excitement building up in its voice.  
"So far the other elevators have been working without hitch." Doug replied quietly. "This elevator was built sturdier than the rest. There's no reason why this shouldn't."  
_"Then what are we waiting for? Come on, let's do this Doug!"_

No response.

_"…Doug?" _Cube asked quietly, slightly unnerved by his sudden silence.

In the corner nearest to the exit, the exit which would set them both free, Doug stood quietly. Head bowed down, and clutching the computer, their fire, the very _key_ to Aperture, Doug hesitated.  
So close, so near to the sunlight he had dreamed for such a long time.

Doug chuckled quietly.

"…You know, it's weird." He finally said.  
"I used to _work_ here once, back when the world seemed to make sense."  
"I used to have colleagues- _friends_ even, who stayed here with me, alive and active. We all knew this place. This facility. This room." His breath caught. "Even with its shady past, we still trusted Aperture."

"To think it would turn to this."

Doug sighed, calming himself before he finally continued.  
"…When we escaped, we promised to meet back here if anyone of us stayed alive 'till the end."  
"We thought we could escape. We thought we would be free."

"…But in the end, I was the only one who returned."

The small catches in his breath soon turned to uncontrollable gasps, and before he knew it, he was tearing up again.  
Cube stayed silent, gently observing the man as he attempted, and failed, to take a hold on himself.

"What did we do to deserve this?" He said quietly. "Did we do anything _that_ bad, that terrible to be given such a horrible punishment? We were just normal people. All of us. Just doing our job, just obediently doing what we were told to do."

"…If I escape now, without giving the same chance I have to anyone else that might still be alive, I could never live with myself." Doug muttered, grinding his teeth. "This was our last hope."

"What right do I have to throw it away?"

Silence enveloped the two, the cube momentarily lost for words at what his friend had told it.  
Finally, hesitantly, it broke the silence.

_"…You're not throwing it away." _Cube gently whispered.  
_"You're using it to save a life."_ It said quietly. _"Even if it is your own, it's a precious life nonetheless."_

_"As long as you live, there will be hope."_

Gasps turned to quiet sobs, and unconsciously, Doug tightened his grip on the computer.  
He remembered those words. The last words that he heard from a dying friend.

_"…Doug." _Cube whispered to him.  
_"Our job isn't over yet."_

Slowly, quietly, Doug took a step away. Away from the rubble, the oil, and the room. The memories. His memories.  
And on whim, he threw.

The broken body of the computer, fizzing and cackling away on its own, didn't need much persuasion to light.  
The room flared into a blaze, and the wooden desks, the tables, and document-filled pile of rubbish burnt along with it. Everything burned. The newspapers, the old lab reports, and the numerous pictures of people's families- Everything burned to the ground.

Amidst the blaze, the steadily growing smoke, Doug stood quietly. Idly he heard the weak remains of what would have been an alarm once upon a time, and the faint whirring of an elevator coming down behind him. Slowly, he turned toward the doors.

The fire exit.

"…Hey Cube," Doug said as he made his way to the elevator.  
"I'm sorry I yelled at you awhile ago." He paused to cover his mouth from the smoke. "…I'm sorry I ever doubted you."

_"Hey, no worries."  
__"We're just going through hard times."_ It chirped optimistically. _"And sticking together is what friends are for, right?"  
_"…I guess." Doug replied with a smile. "I guess."

* * *

Glados, as uncharacteristic as it was to say, was confused.

For the last 0.73 second she had scanned and rescanned the facility for any errors, any traces of what could have caused the sudden outburst.

For what reason, fire had risen in one of the main office rooms in the left wing of the facility.

Her thought-processors acting up in her head, Glados had started on her third security scanning of the facility, momentarily stumped.  
What happened? Why did it happen? Was it caused by the meltdown? Had an explosion damaged the room enough to set it ablaze? She thought she had solved the problem-  
No…no, it wasn't that. It couldn't have been that. Even though she couldn't see it, she could still feel it.

The room was intact.

No extensive damage had been done to the other connected rooms. Not yet, at least.

Inwardly, she cursed.  
Even when she was fully functional the office sections of the facility had been a pain to reach. Erasing that fire wasn't going to be any easier now. She wasn't exactly in her prime condition, _especially_ since some idiot had to go and wrack the place up.

She fumed. Whatever caused the fire, whatever _dared_ to deface _her _facility, was going to pay.  
Whatever it was- She was sure she would soon find out.

~oOo~

It was out of luck, out of pure chance that she hadn't felt the footsteps. She hadn't heard the voice. She was too busy with fixing the facility that she hadn't noticed that one, single little tank of oil from the production area go missing. She hadn't thought it was possible, so she had dismissed the fact completely.

It had been twenty years from her initial breakdown. And by the time she woke up, Chell was the only survivor left. She was sure of it.  
No human, however resourceful, could survive in Aperture for that long.

In her anger, she didn't sense a certain elevator escape.

* * *

"Come on, come on, come on…"  
Doug muttered as the elevator swiftly ascended to the surface.

So close to freedom, so close- but just not there yet. It was no wonder that Doug had begun to feel impatient.  
The ride was taking _forever_.

And the annoying, supposedly 'calming' elevator jazz was definitely not helping. Who the hell thought it was a good idea to stick it in there, anyway?

Doug sighed agitatedly.  
The more he stayed still, the more he could feel himself get nervous by the second. He knew as much as anyone, even more than most, that you weren't safe until you could be absolutely _certain _(And certainty was a flimsy thing in human minds) that you were safe.  
They had won. They had found a way out of Aperture, and taken the exit. Yes. But had they escaped?  
No, not yet.

Almost automatically, Doug began assessing the nearest possible entrances and escape routes from inside the elevator. Idly noting an air vent he could most probably pry off above him on the ceiling of the elevator, Doug continued to fuss and worry. He had fallen off an elevator once, and that wasn't a particularly pleasant experience he was willing to re-create anytime soon. Especially not now, after getting so far, and getting so close to the outside.

Closing his eyes, Doug thought he could almost feel it.  
Sunlight.

The feeling of sunlight on his skin, the natural brightness of the sun in his eyes, gave him the chills just thinking about it. For the long duration of his hiding he dreamt about the sun, its bright light, and the real, non-artificial sky. In his hideouts he kept track of the moon, the full moons, the half moons- he would draw pictures of them on the wall, keeping track of how long he had been underground.

Oddly enough, he had missed the sky the most.  
Out of everything he could have missed, his family, his home, he missed the sky the most.

And now he was so close to it.

Even though Doug had previously fought the urge to get excited, a wave of giddiness had begun to spread over him at the mention of the sky, successfully blocking out every negative thought.

Finally, finally this hell will en-

A sudden jolt from the elevator almost tossed Doug off balance, and soon after, a loud, conspicuous, _creak _emitted from outside the elevator. The music of the elevator glitched, then stopped, instead turning into an eerie white noise.

As quickly as the wave of optimistic thoughts washed over him, they disappeared.

"…Cube," Doug croaked, shaken. "What the hell's happening."  
_"…I'm not sure Doug," _Cube paused, _"But the elevator's stopped moving."_

Doug looked up with alarm at the ceiling of the elevator, quickly calculating his best route of action.

Setting the cube down, Doug used it to clamber up to the ceiling, prying off the vent opening and crawling out on top of the elevator. Once he got up, he reached for the cube below him (A very difficult task to do, he barely even reached it) and once again, strapped it on his back.  
Cautiously, they looked around.

Around them was a rather small, metal opening, much like the background areas of Aperture Doug was used to, with the ropes of the elevator in front of them, and emergency ladders leading up and down. With only the minimal weak red emergency lights in the area, it was dark, but that wasn't his greatest concern.  
Doug wobbled slightly, trying as best as he could to _not_ look down below him.  
His biggest worry, as it was now, was of how near they were to the surface, and how incredibly _far_ they were from the ground.

_"…Doug,"_ The cube whispered, startling him out of his thoughts.  
_"These ropes."_ If it could gesture toward objects, it would have. _"They're pretty worn out."  
_"Well that's no surprise, after all the time the elevator's just been hanging here, I guess that could have happened." Doug said, squinting at the ropes. It was pretty damn hard to tell the details in the dark red light.  
_"The elevator's jammed." _Cube continued.  
_"It doesn't look like it's been maintained in years. I'm surprised it even worked so far. I guess no one bothered to touch this since it was an emergency lift."_ Cube paused. _"This is in worse position than the guest elevator."_

_"Doug… I have a bad feeling about this."_

As if on cue, the elevator gave another jolt, and from the back of his head, Doug could swear he heard another, small _snap._

_"GET ON THE LADDER!" _Cube roared.

Without even a moment of hesitation Doug did as so, running and agilely jumping on to the ladder as the elevator, slowly emitting a loud series of creaks and snaps, unsteadily descended.  
Soon, the rope cut off completely, and the elevator fell, crashing into the depths of the dark pit below.

Shaken but unharmed, Doug clung on to the ladder for dear life.  
"…Oh my god…" Doug barely rasped out, speechless.

_"We're alive." _Cube said in a human, shaky voice. _"We're alive. That's good. That's very good."  
_"…Well being alive is perfectly good and all, but what are we going to do now?!" Doug snapped at the cube.  
_"You know that there's only one way to go, right?" _Cube replied in a still shaky, but optimistic tone.  
_"Up."_

Above them, the ladders and dark red lights continued upwards, forming a seemingly never-ending loop to the surface.

"…You've got to be kidding me." Doug muttered.  
_"That is our only choice." _Cube replied matter-of-factly.  
_"Unless you want to stay and most probably just let us fall to our deaths here, I suggest we begin moving up."_

Doug sighed quietly. As much as he didn't want to admit it, Cube had a point.

It was do or die here.

In the end after the thinking, after the countless choices and pointless backtracks and attempts of escape, that was what a lot of things came down to.

Warily, Doug looked up.  
The ladders seemed to continue on forever, and no sign, not even a hint of light from the cracks of a door or the rays of an exposed sun gave him any clue that he was near the surface. Tired, shaken and discouraged, negative thoughts began to creep back into his mind.  
Nevertheless, he took his first step.

To everything, there is an end. To everything, there is a goal.  
And there exists some people who would not give up until they reach that goal. Some people who can't. Desperate people, just like him.  
He knew that more than anyone else. He knew he believed in that strength of humans, more than anyone else could.

_Tenacity._

Steeling himself, Doug continued his ascent.  
He wouldn't die. He wouldn't stop. Not now, not until he went back up and saw the sky again.

_"'Atta boy!" _Cube cheered him on._ "Don't worry Doug, I know we're almost there."_

_"I can almost see the lights."_


End file.
